Illustrated Shoes

The other day on Pinterest, I came across a site called Figgie Shoes where the owner paints custom designs on shoes (heels / flats for weddings, baby, etc.). I had to try it *immediately!*

I think the artist at Figgie Shoes uses a paint brush, but I am not as skilled in that arena so decided to try it with ink and paint pens instead. Off to Joann’s I went and picked up this set of pens (fine and regular point on either end) as well as a white Sharpie branded paint pen. Then I went to Goodwill for some shoes.

On my practice pair I started by freehand drawing with orange pen. I think these particular shoes are made of a sort of faux leather. The ink took to the material nicely. At first I thought it looked nice and subtle – you could barely see the design. Then I decided I wanted the design to stand out more so I went over it with the white paint pen.

The orange bled into the white, making for a sort of mixed-color effect. It wasn’t bad, but for shoe #2 I opted to start out with white alone. I prefer the white by far! What do you think? Someone told me the design on these reminded them of henna tattoos (something else I want to try). I take that as a compliment!

After the above pair, I was itching for more. I dashed down the hall to my 2 year old’s closet and found a pair of shoes I’d bought for her at Target that were a size too small. They still had the tags attached, and I hadn’t gotten around to returning them. Perfect! So I went for it on this pair with all the colors. White still stands out most, but the other colors look great too. I think it really turned out cute. I gave it to a friend who is expecting a baby girl soon. I didn’t get a full picture before so this is a small phone shot that she took.

I'm addicted now, so plenty more to come and with bigger and better photos! This is actually a pretty easy craft to try out. If you're nervous you could use a stencil. What do you think? Will you give it a try? If you do, link back to your photos because I want to see!

Embroidered pillow cases upcycled from clearance shams

I was at Bed Bath and Beyond the other day and found some clearance pillow shams marked down to $10 for a pair. They were sized for a regular bed pillow, but looked like they could be adapted to the size of a small square throw pillow instead. Namely, the throw pillows on my couch! I wished they were a tiny bit cheaper but the embroidery was so pretty and such high quality that they still seemed like a good deal. Aren't they cute?

On that same clearance rack I found an off-white sheet that had a drink spilled on it, marked down to $3. I figured if I couldn't wash out the spill there was still plenty of good fabric there to be worth the money. So I snagged that too. Good thing because I ended up needing to create a lining for the pillow cases and it was the perfect color. Incidentally, the drink stain washed right out so I ended up with a whole perfect sheet for a measly three bucks. Score!

Another handy thing about these shams is that the back was already set up with an overlapping envelope style opening. So that saved me the extra step of hemming those edges. I just cut off one end of the sham and hemmed up that side, being sure to keep a nicely centered opening in the back. I also trimmed the other three sides and hemmed those for a neat, even, perfectly sized case.

I'm loving how these came out!

Skirt for 4 yr old out of ladybug sheets

Hello blog, long time no see! A YEAR, in fact. :( I noticed the other day that someone commented on my glass etching post a year ago, asking a question, and I never saw it. I'm sorry about that! I'm going to try to find more time to work on this blog, and maybe even start an Etsy shop someday!
Anyhoo, on to my post.

I got a sewing machine for Christmas and taught myself how to sew and I LOVE it. My husband told me that I'm addicted, and I need an intervention. It's that bad :P

It's just such an amazingly satisfying thing to see a project come to life! The inspiration for this sewing spree was that I realized my daughters (2 and 4) are the perfect age to make adorable things for. I don't have to be an expert seamstress to make a few simple items, right? More posts coming on the *many* projects I've made in the last 3 months, but for now I had to show off this skirt!

How is this thrifty, you may ask? Well, let me tell you the story!

The other day my 4 year old noticed some cute ladybug sheets I had on the 2 year old's crib mattress. She wanted ladybug sheets on her big girl bed too! So for her birthday, I went to Target and bought similar sheets for her bed. They didn't have any twin sheets left in stock, but they did have full size, for the same price. Lightbulb! I figured, why not trim down the sheets to fit a twin bed, then use the excess fabric for some cute projects? So that's what I did.

Here's half the remnant that I cut off of the flat sheet...

Imagine this, twice as long, and you have what I started out with this morning. I trimmed it to the right size, and added some cute green fabric with white polka dots as a contrasting band at the bottom, and voila! Skirt!

I found the tutorial on a fun blog called, "Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom" (found this on Pinterest).

http://scatteredthoughtsofasahm.blogspot.com/2012/03/simple-skirt-tutorial-with-3-options.html

She has 3 options of skirts there, and I plan to make them all. This particular skirt is the first one in the list. I can't wait to try it on my little one when she gets home from daycare!

Another shot on a hanger, just for kicks:

Lurve!